First of all I would like to say hello to everyone...I custom paint helmets, motorcycles and the like. I need to cut some time so I picked up a plotter and it came with FlexiStarter 8.5v1 software. The plotter will be used with paint masking vinyl. What I want to do is take a flame I drew on paper, scan it into Inkscape, trace it and then send it to the plotter. Or learn how to create a flame or tribal graphic in Inkscape and then send it to the plotter. I've been using Inkscape for about two months and have had nothing but bad luck in trying to do this. After several days of getting the flames smooth I sent to Flexi and it double cut the lines. I don't know Inkscape well and the way I did it was the hard way (probably the incorrect way too) to do it. I'm sure there's an easier way to do it. It's still easier and quicker for me to get the fine line tape out and do the flames and graphics. Thanks in advance, Ed

I don't really know how these plotters/cutters work, but I have some assumptions that they must cut shapes that follow the vector path and it ignores colours and other visual elements.

So, if I were you, I would forget about drawing a flame and start of simple to find how your plotter behaves to different vector elements in Inkscape. What happens with you plot just a circle created with or what happens when you plot a path created with . What if it has a stroke, what if it doesn't?

Perhaps you can post your flame online for us to examine. Maybe you've drawn two paths without knowing it and that's why you are you getting a double cut.

I think there was some talk on the developer list about vinyl cutters, try posting there or on the inkscape users list

It may well be cutting the outline and the fill, both of which share the same path, so would be a double fill. Make sure nothing has any fill applied would be my first thing to try.